Thomas Brough

History of

Thomas Brough (1832-1882)

and Jean (Jane) Paterson

Edited by R. Clayton Brough, John M. Brough and Marie B. Nielson, July 2005. Edited from material that originally appeared in the 1980 RBFO book: Samuel Richard Brough 1857-1947: His History, Ancestors and Descendants, pp.11-13.

Thomas Brough was born on 22 October 1832 to Richard Brough and Mary Horleston in Longton, Lane End, Staffordshire, England. He was christened on 11 November 1832 at St. John Parish Church (of England) in Lane End, Longton. In 1840, Thomas Brough's father, Richard Brough, had joined the L.D.S. Church, and about nine years later Thomas also joined the L.D.S. Church, being baptized on 7 January 1849 by Elder Wesley Meigh of the L.D.S. Longton Branch.

As a young man, Thomas worked in the coal mines around Longton and practiced the trades of masonry and carpentry. In fact, British Census records state that Thomas was working as a "App. Potter" when he was only "9" years old and as a "Coal Miner" when he was "18" years of age.

On 9 November 1851, Thomas Brough married Jean (Jane) Paterson (who was born on 12 April 1830 in Barony, Lanarshire, Scotland) at St. Peters Church, Stoke-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire. At the time of their marriage Jane was not a member of the L.D.S. Church, but she later joined the L.D.S. Church in January 1855. During the first four years of their marriage, Jane gave birth to three children: Thomas (who died shortly after his birth), Martha Jane, who was born on 21 July 1851, and William George, who was born 2 July 1855.

In the latter part of 1855, Thomas, Jane and their two children, along with Thomas's younger sister Elizabeth (born 1834) and her husband Samuel Cartlidge, prepared to leave their native England to emigrate to America, where they wanted to join the rest of the L.D.S. "Saints" in Utah.

On 25 May 1856, Thomas and Jane and their two children, along with Elizabeth and Samuel Cartlidge, left on the ship Horizon, from Liverpool, England. The Horizon was commanded by a Captain Reid, and the "Mormon company" aboard this vessel was under the direction of Elder Edward Martin. Aboard the Horizon there were 692 adults, 136 children and 26 infants, totaling 854 passengers. Thomas, Jane and their children paid their own fares and were therefore booked as ordinary passengers, while the majority of the other Mormon immigrants aboard were funded by the Perpetual Emigration Fund of the L.D.S. Church. The ship Horizon reached Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, on 30 June 1856.

Shortly after arriving in the northeastern United States, Thomas's money ran out, and he and Jane were forced to stop in Pennsylvania where Thomas then worked just long enough in the surrounding coal mines to obtain enough money to get him and his family to Madison County, Illinois.

By the middle of 1857, Thomas and Jane Brough had settled in the area of Bethalto, Madison County, Illinois. There Thomas rented a farm, and for the next seven years, from 1857 to 1864, he grew corn and raised hogs and other farm animals. (The 1860 Census shows Thomas and Jane and their four children--Martha Jane, William George, Samuel Richard and Adria Elizabeth-residing in the area of Bethalto "Madison [County], Illinois," and the "value of [their] personal estate" at about "$50".) While in Madison County, Thomas's wife Jane gave birth to four more children, with their first child born on American soil being Samuel Richard Brough, born on 20 August 1857. Three other children followed the birth of Samuel: Adria Elizabeth, born 13 October 1859; Mary Ann, born 17 March 1862; and Emily Ellen, born 23 March 1864.

By the year 1864, which was in the midst of the U.S. Civil War, Thomas had secured enough money to purchase a wagon and team of oxen in which he could take his growing family from Illinois to Utah. His means of transportation included a lumber wagon, two yoke of oxen and a cow. Thomas, Jane and their six children started out toward Utah on about 15 June 1864 in a wagon train of approximately one hundred wagons. Three months later, on 18 September 1864, Thomas, Jane and their children arrived in Porterville, Morgan County, Utah. (The town of Porterville was first settled by Sanford Porter in 1860.)

Before leaving Illinois, Thomas sold nearly all of his family's furniture and instructed Jane to pack only their clothing and food, including some wheat, in their wagon for their trip westward. However, Jane took the liberty to pack an old clock between some clothing which Thomas never knew about until they arrived in Utah. This timekeeper later proved to be the only functioning clock in the pioneer settlement of Porterville during the first year after their arrival in Utah.

After traveling about five hundred miles from Illinois, one of Thomas's oxen took sick and died. Thomas had a cow which he had brought along for his children to have milk, so one of his emigrant friends who also had a cow helped him yoke their two cows together to Thomas's wagon so the Broughs could continue their journey westward. Thomas eventually made a single yoke for the mate of the ox who had died and put him along on the lead of the wagon to guide the two cows.

During their journey westward, Jane placed the milk from their cow in a crock jar in their wagon, whereupon the shake of the wagon churned a little pat of butter which the family enjoyed each day as they traveled towards Utah.

When Thomas and Jane arrived in Utah in September 1864, fall had already set in and Thomas was not able to build his family a home before winter set it. So he made a 12' by 14' dugout in the hillside near Porterville and placed his family within this shelter for their first winter in Utah. During this first winter, Thomas was not able to get any flour for his family, so until spring arrived his family utilized the wheat they had brought from Illinois, and the children took turns grinding the wheat through a small coffee mill for their bread.

Following his first winter in Utah, Thomas located some good farm land, and by the fall of 1865, he and his younger brother Samuel had built a small adobe one-room home for Thomas's family in Porterville. Within two more years, he utilized the brickmaking skills he had learned and practiced in his native England, and had built two brick rooms adjoining his adobe home. These were the first bricks made in Porterville, and Thomas, along with his brother Samuel, manufactured other bricks which were used in constructing a number of buildings in the Porterville area. In fact, the first LDS Chapel in West Porterville was built in 1870 from bricks made by Thomas Brough. This brick Chapel--which existed from 1870 to 1899--measured "20 x 30 feet, and 12 feet to the square" and served as both a "meeting house and school" for people living in West Porterville.

In addition to manufacturing bricks in Porterville, Thomas, and his brother Samuel, also operated a brickyard in east Kaysville between about 1867 and 1881. This large brickyard was known as the "Brough Brick Yard on Cemetery Street." Today, the ground on which the Brough Brick Yard was once located is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is occupied by the LDS Kaysville Crestwood Wardhouse--located at 1039 East Crestwood Road, Kaysville, Utah.

Thomas was a very industrious and honest man. After moving to Porterville, he cultivated his land with the aid of oxen and harvested his crops with a scythe and a grain cradle. He was a true leader and lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the best of his ability. He never touched liquor or tobacco and kept the Sabbath Day as a holy day. He was first ordained a Branch President in 1875 and later as the first Bishop of the new West Porterville Ward when the Morgan Stake was organized in 1877. He held this position as Bishop of the West Porterville Ward until his death in 1882.

Thomas was a devoted husband and a kind father. He loved and cherished his wife, and the two of them righteously raised seven children. Their last child, Alice Eliza, was born on 18 June 1866 in Porterville.

At the age of almost 50, and in the first week of May 1882, Thomas was suddenly struck by appendicitis. Two days later he died on 6 May 1882. However, before passing away, he called all his children to his bedside, except his son William George who was then on a mission, and, like Jacob of Old, gave each of his children a dying father's patriarchal blessing.

Following the death of Thomas, his wife Jane resigned herself to her position and determined to make the best of it. Prior to her husband's death, Jane had practiced midwifery and nursing in Porterville for ten years, and after her husband died she continued to practice frontier medicine in the community for the next 21 years. She received her certificate to practice obstetrics from the State Medical Board of Utah and proved very successful in this specific profession, bringing scores of babies into the world. She was a real pioneer doctor, using herbs, bark and roots she gathered from the surrounding mountains and plains to treat the various illnesses of her patients. She often treated her patients without asking for or receiving remuneration of any kind. She was truly loved by everyone in her community. Jane was also an excellent seamstress, homemaker and diligent temple worker. She taught all of her children the Gospel and the importance of living a righteous life, and all of her children remained faithful Latter-day Saints to the end of their lives.

Jane died 21 years after her husband's death, at the age of 73 on 6 August 1903 in Porterville, Utah, and is buried alongside her husband in the Porterville Cemetery.

Note: Jean Paterson has been known for many years as "Jane Patterson" to a number of RBFO family members. However, recent research has shown her original name as "Jean Paterson". For example, the Barony Parish Record (Scotland) and the LDS Church Extraction Program lists her name as "Jean Paterson." Therefore, RBFO Genealogists now list her name as "Jean (Jane) Paterson" in the RBFO Genealogical Database.

Historical Memorial added to the Graves of

Thomas Brough & Jane Paterson in July 2012

In February 2012, members of the BFO Research Committee proposed the placement of a new "discrete low-lying memorial stone" that would lay on the ground but be positioned on a slight angle within the fenced portion of the grave of Thomas and Jane Brough, and which would contain the following specific information about them and their pioneer contributions to Porterville:

THOMAS BROUGH WAS BORN IN LONGTON, STAFFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, ON 22 OCT. 1832, AND CHRISTENED AT ST. JOHN, LONGTON, ON 11 NOV. 1832. THOMAS MARRIED JANE PATERSON ON 9 NOV. 1851 IN ST. PETERS CHURCH, STOKE-UPON-TRENT, STAFFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND. THOMAS JOINED THE LDS CHURCH IN ENGLAND IN 1848, AND JANE JOINED IN 1853. IN 1856 THEY EMIGRATED TO THE UNITED STATES, WHERE THEY LIVED IN ILLINOIS FOR SEVEN YEARS. IN 1864 THEY LEFT ILLINOIS AND TRAVELED BY WAGON TRAIN TO UTAH, EVENTUALLY SETTLING IN PORTERVILLE. THEY HAD EIGHT CHILDREN: THOMAS, MARTHA JANE, WILLIAM GEORGE, SAMUEL RICHARD, ADRIA ELIZABETH, MARY ANN, EMILY ELLEN AND ALICE ELIZA. THOMAS WAS A BRICKMAKER AND MADE BRICKS THAT WERE USED IN CONSTRUCTING A NUMBER OF BUILDINGS IN PORTERVILLE AND KAYSVILLE, UTAH. HE ALSO SERVED AS THE FIRST BISHOP OF THE LDS WEST PORTERVILLE WARD FROM 1877 UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1882. HE DIED ON 6 MAY 1882. JANE PATERSON WAS BORN ON 12 APRIL 1830 AND CHRISTENED AS "JEAN PATERSON" ON 9 MAY 1830 IN BARONY, LANARKSHIRE, SCOTLAND. JANE PATERSON PRACTICED MIDWIFERY AND NURSING FOR THIRTY-ONE YEARS IN PORTERVILLE AND NEARBY AREAS. SHE DIED ON 6 AUG. 1903. THOMAS AND JANE BROUGH ARE BOTH BURIED IN PORTERVILLE, MORGAN CO., UTAH. THIS MEMORIAL STONE WAS PLACED HERE IN 2012 BY THE BROUGH FAMILY ORGANIZATION (WWW.BROUGHFAMILY.ORG).

In May 2012, this proposal was discussed and accepted at the RBFO Annual Board Meeting held in Kaysville, Utah. In June 2012 the construction of his new historical memorial was awarded to the "Botts" Bountiful Memorial Art Company in Bountiful, Utah. On 28 July 2012, this historical memorial was placed within the fenced gravesite of Thomas and Jane Brough in Porterville, Utah, as shown in the following photos:

Robert Paterson, born about 1654/1657, of Saint Ninians, Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Married Marjorie Johnston in about 1678

Robert Paterson, born about 1625, of Saint Ninians, Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Married: Jonat Anderson in about 1650

Interestingly, in 1710, a John Paterson married a Susanna Brugh (Brough) in Auchterarder, Perthshire. This couple had seven children--three of whom were christened in Stirling between 1718 and 1724. The BFO is currently conducting research into the ancestry of this couple.